This invention relates to an elongate consolidated article for treating molten metal for altering same and a method of making the article.
One process for treating molten iron for altering same includes enclosing the powdered treating agent within a relatively thick walled metal conduit thereby forming a wire-like article which is inserted into the molten iron at a preselected controlled feed rate. The molten iron dissolves the conduit thereby releasing the treating agent into the molten iron. The conduit is commonly made of steel because of the high ductility of steel and because it does not alter the composition of the molten iron to any significant degree.
One of the problems encountered with that process is that the melting point of the steel conduit is higher than the normal pour temperature of the molten iron and the steel conduit is dissolved by the combination of solid state diffusion and melting reaction. The time required to melt through the relatively thick walled conduit undesirably delays the final dissolution of the article in the molten iron and undesirably limits the maximum permissible feed rate. The use of a conduit having a relatively thin wall is not practical since the process commonly used to make the wire-like article leaves a seam which has a tendency to split open thereby allowing the treating agent to spill out when the article is coiled onto a reel.